Higher fuel cost weighs on Delta profit in 1st quarter

ATLANTA (AP) — Rising fuel costs hurt Delta's first-quarter profit, which dropped 36 percent from the same period a year before. But the company's adjusted earnings beat expectations and its stock rose about 2 percent in morning trading Wednesday.

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Delta also said Wednesday that last week's cancellation of about 4,000 flights because of severe weather in Atlanta will cost it $125 million in pre-tax income in the current quarter.

The company reported net income of $603 million, or 82 cents per share, for the three months ending March 31. That's down from $946 million, or $1.21 per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Adjusted earnings were 77 cents per share, surpassing Wall Street expectations of 73 cents per share, according to Zacks Investment Research.

Revenue fell 1 percent to $9.15 billion in the period, missing Street forecasts. Analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $9.16 billion.

Shares of Delta Air Lines Inc. rose 84 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $46.13 in morning trading Wednesday.

Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DAL at https://www.zacks.com/ap/DAL

Keywords: Delta Air Lines, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings